Following an outbreak of COVID-19 at the Launceston General Hospital the Department of Health have confirmed a fifth patient associated with the outbreak has tested positive for the virus.
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State Health Commander Dale Webster said as of 2pm on April 20, one further patient associated with the outbreak had returned a positive COVID-19 test, bringing the total number of positive patients at the LGH to five.
He said contact tracing was still underway to control the potential spread of the virus, but said it was unlikely the tracing process would determine the origins of the outbreak.
"The outbreak management team continues to undertake contact tracing to ensure potentially affected staff, patients and visitors to the ward can be tested and isolate as appropriate," he said.
"However, given the current levels of COVID-19 transmission within the community, it is unlikely that we will be able to definitively identify the source of the outbreak."
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Mr Webster said all staff associated with the ward had also been tested with the department awaiting the results.
When asked about the condition of the patients who had tested positive, or how many patients remained in ward 6D the department did not provide a response.
The 32-bed ward has been closed to new admissions and visitors since the beginning of the outbreak, with the department confirming the four patients who tested positive on Tuesday had been moved to one of the hospital's two dedicated COVID wards.
While the outbreak at the LGH is the first for the hospital since the pandemic began, independent health policy analyst Martyn Goddard said with high case numbers in the community further outbreaks could be expected.
"Because there is now so much more COVID in the community, the chance of outbreaks in hospitals and aged care centres greatly increases," he said.
"We can expect this to happen again."
Mr Goddard said with two dedicated Coronavirus wards already in use, the closure of ward 6D would place additional pressure on the already stretched hospital.
"Closing a 32-bed ward immediately takes out over 10 per cent of beds at that hospital," he said.
"Every bed is occupied pretty much every day, so this is serious in terms of reduced capacity as well as the obvious danger of disease transmission within the hospital."
Mr Webster said the hospital's outbreak management team would continue to monitor the situation and would reopen the ward to new patients and visitors when it was "appropriate to do so".
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Andrew Chounding
An experienced multi-platform journalist focusing on the issues that impact health in Tasmania. With a background in social research and public policy, health reporting for Andrew is about ensuring the best health outcomes for the Northern Tasmanian community. Contact Andrew at: andrew.chounding@examiner.com.au or 0437 358 262
An experienced multi-platform journalist focusing on the issues that impact health in Tasmania. With a background in social research and public policy, health reporting for Andrew is about ensuring the best health outcomes for the Northern Tasmanian community. Contact Andrew at: andrew.chounding@examiner.com.au or 0437 358 262
